Gerald McRaney

Gerald Lee McRaney is an American actor best known for his leading and recurring roles on television series including Simon & Simon, Major Dad, Promised Land, House of Cards, and NCIS: Los Angeles. Born on August 19, 1947, in Collins, Mississippi, he is the son of Clyde and Edna McRaney and possesses Scottish and Choctaw heritage. After completing his education at Long Beach High School and attending the University of Mississippi, he gained employment in the Louisiana oil fields before pursuing an acting career.

His screen career began in film with the low-budget horror feature Night of Bloody Horror in 1969, where he played the main character. Throughout the 1970s, he established himself as a guest actor on episodic television, appearing in programs such as Gunsmoke, Police Woman, Barnaby Jones, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Rockford Files, Hawaii Five-O, and multiple roles in The Incredible Hulk. He also appeared in television miniseries such as Women in White and Roots: The Next Generations.

McRaney achieved widespread recognition co-starring as Rick Simon on the CBS detective drama Simon & Simon from 1981 to 1989. Following the conclusion of that series, he played the title character Major John McGillis in the comedy Major Dad from 1989 to 1993. He later headlined the drama series Promised Land as Russell Greene from 1996 to 1999, a character he originated on Touched by an Angel. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, he performed in the soap opera Central Park West and a variety of television films, including Ike: Countdown to D-Day, in which he portrayed General George S. Patton.

Over the following decades, McRaney continued to take prominent television roles. He played gold prospector George Hearst in the western series Deadwood and starred as Johnston Green in Jericho. His later recurring and guest projects included Undercovers, Fairly Legal, Southland, Justified, and Longmire, where he portrayed Barlow Connally. From 2013 to 2017, he played nuclear energy industrialist Raymond Tusk in House of Cards, and he appeared as the principal antagonist Mason Wood in the eighth season of Castle. His film work during this era included appearances in The A-Team, Red Tails, Heart of the Country, and Focus.

McRaney received critical acclaim and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his recurring performance as Dr. Nathan Katowski on the NBC drama series This Is Us. He also made extended guest appearances on NCIS: Los Angeles as retired Vice Admiral Hollace Kilbride starting in 2014, eventually joining the cast as a series regular in 2021. In addition to dramatic acting, he co-hosted the outdoor hunting show The World of Beretta and hosted the safety series Don't Be a Victim.

In his personal life, McRaney married actress Delta Burke in May 1989 after meeting her on the set of Simon & Simon. Though not a military veteran himself, he has actively supported armed forces members, visiting service personnel during operations in France, Somalia, and Haiti, and participating in public campaigns for the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Wounded Warrior Project. In 2004, he successfully underwent surgical treatment for lung cancer. Politically, he transitioned from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, endorsing presidential candidates George H. W. Bush and John McCain, and appeared in advertisements for the National Rifle Association.